5400 King James Waay, Suite 300

Madisson, WI 53719, U.S.A.

Phone: 608.238.2171 Fax: 608.2388.9241
Emaill: info@powerlinesystems.com
m
URL: https://www.poowerlinesystem
ms.com/

Allo
owable Wind
W & Weight
W Spans v
vs. Real S
Structurre Mode
els
Intrroduction
n
FFor more than
n three decades many PLS--CADD users
h
have taken ad
dvantage of Po
ower Line Sysstems'
a
advanced stru
uctural analysiis solutions. Fully
F modeling
g
sstructures in our
o TOWER an
nd PLS-POLE programs
p
provides manyy benefits ove
er traditional wind & weigh
ht
sspan approaches. These be
enefits accrue because
T
TOWER and PLS-POLE
P mod
del the intrinssic (physical)
p
properties of the
t structure separately fro
om the
a
allowable stre
ength of the sttructure.

W
With our struccture program
ms, a load is applied to a
sstructure mod
del and a relevvant design code is then
u
used to check
k the structure
e strength. Wiith wind &
Figure 1 - Full structure m
models from PLLS-POLE and TO
OWER compare
ed to
w
weight spans the strength definition hass embedded
an Allowable SSpan file
w
within it the lo
oad that was applied
a (the type
t and
ttension of the
e conductor) and
a the code that was used
d to check. M odeling the in
ntrinsic prope
erties of a stru
ucture
sseparately as opposed
o to combining the
ese propertiess with the wir es attached to
o the structurre and the code used
tto check it ena
ables:

1. Generation of allo
owable wind & weight sp
pans:
Allowable wind & weight span values or an interaction o of these (whicch we call intteraction diag grams) are
still necessary for the
t optimum spotting of a line by PLS--CADD. With TOWER and PLS-POLE mo odels, you
can derive these va alues with the
e click of a mouse
m and havve the freedo om to rapidly experiment w with many
differeent structure and conducttor configurattions. The iniitial spotting of a line is the only time we see a
need to use allow wable wind & weight span ns. However, eeven then wee recommend d the use of the more
sophisticated interaction diagrams method as a it can lead tto substantiallly more efficiient designs.
2. nductoring:
Recon
When n you are usin wire or tension and use
ng PLS-POLE and/or TOWER structuress you simply cchange the w
the Sttructure/Checck command. With wind & weight span structures yo
ou need to cre
eate new stru
ucture files
for evvery combinaation of cond
ductor and te
ension scenarrio you want to consider before you ccan check
structtures.
3. Structure upgrade
es:
When n you check a PLS-POLE orr TOWER stru ucture, the prrogram checkks each piece of the structure. It will
tell yo
ou which, if any,
a parts of the structure are failing. A wind & w weight span ccheck will telll you if a
structture is failing based on the allowable wind & weight spans but do oesn't give you
u any idea whhy or what
could be done to fix the prob blem. For exaample: Suppo ose you are tto perform a an uprating sstudy that
involvved reconducctoring a lattice tower linee. A simple an nalysis of win
nd and weigh ht spans indicates that
these structures do not have sufficient
s strength for the heavier cond ductor. A mo ore detailed a
analysis in
TOWE ER generates color coded graphics sho owing the oveerstressed meembers. Manyy of the strucctures can
be made to withsstand the inccreased load by simply reeplacing speecific memberrs on the towers. The
 identification of the members needing reinforcement is not possible with a wind & weight span analysis
and in this case could result in substantial savings over replacing an entire structure.
4. Changing ruling span:
Sometimes, through unusual terrain or clearance requirements you end up with a design that doesn't
match the design ruling span very well. Once again, this isn't a problem for PLS-POLE/TOWER structures
as you just use the Structure/ Check command. For wind & weight span structures you need to rederive
your allowable spans if you really want to get the most accurate allowable strength of your structures.
5. Underbuild/Joint Use:
For PLS-POLE/TOWER structures, you add attachment points to the structures if they aren't already there,
string whatever additional wires are needed at the appropriate tensions and use the Structure/ Check
command. For wind & weight spans you need a different set of allowable wind & weight spans for each
different underbuild scenario.
6. Unbalanced ice, broken conductors, slack removal/shift for extra clearance:
These techniques/events leave you with a longitudinal imbalance. With PLS-POLE and TOWER it is very
easy to figure out if the structures can withstand this imbalance and how they influence the structure
strength. The programs can even supply structure flexibility information to PLS-CADD to account for
structure deflection when calculating sag-tension and loading. Allowable wind & weight spans are useless
in these cases.
7. Change of Codes
Various revisions of the NESC redefined wind pressures as a function of span length and attachment
elevation: Those who had modeled their structures in PLS-POLE or TOWER simply switched to the latest
NESC wind adjustments in PLS-CADD's Criteria/ Weather table and performed a structure check. If your
standards were based on wind & weight span, you would need to rederive them. In fact, the very concept
of being able to compute an allowable wind span for a structure seems at odds with the new NESC where
you can't even compute the wind unless you know the heights of the ahead and back structures.
Three months after the 2002 NESC took effect, ANSI O5.1-2002 was released which mandated a reduction
in the allowable fiber stress for wood poles. Once again, existing wind & weight span structures were
rendered useless, but users of PLS-POLE simply switched to the ANSI O5.1-2002 strength check and
immediately had updated results.
These two code changes which both occurred in the same year show why it is so important to model the
intrinsic properties of the structure separately from the code used to check it.
8. Structure modification:
When using PLS-POLE and TOWER structures, PLS-CADD lets you customize structures by dragging guy
anchors around. It also lets you move attachments and/or arms up and down on PLS-POLE structures.
When you are finished with these drag/drop operations you can check the structure with a simple
Structure/ Check. If using allowable wind & weight spans you must once again rederive the allowable
values based on the changes to the geometry.
9. Improved graphics:
When using PLS-POLE/TOWER structures PLS-CADD can insert rendered images of the structure into its
views. These graphics are a great help in catching structure modeling errors. With wind & weight span
structures no graphical double check is available, only a simple “stick” model is shown.
10. Clearances to structures/guys:
PLS-POLE/TOWER graphics are much more than just pretty pictures. These graphics contain all the
information PLS-CADD needs to perform clearance checks from wires to the structure and its guys. Wind
& weight span structures do not contain this information (in fact they don't even specify whether the
structure is a lattice tower or a wood pole or even if it has guys).
 11. Mainttenance:
PLS-PPOLE and TOW WER models allow
a you to track changes to the structure and accou unt for deterioration of
the sttructure. For example,
e if your maintenan
nce crew tells you that a woood pole has some shell ro ot you can
mode el that with PLLS-POLE and immediately check the st ructure to se ee if it needs to be replaceed. With a
wind & weight spa an structure you have no means
m to deteermine the addequacy of the e structure co
onsidering
the poole defect.
12. Phase
e transpositio
on:
When n switching frrom a horizon ntal to a verttical configuraation, each wwire in a circu
uit has its ow
wn wind &
weigh ht span as well as its own in
nduced line angle. You neeed to keep this in mind and manually acccount for
it if using wind & weight spanss, but it is handled automaatically if you u use PLS-POLE or TOWER R to check
your structures
s sincce the actual line geometryy is used to c alculate the lo
oads acting oon the structure.
T
The preceding
g scenarios illustrate the many
m advantag
ges of using real structuree models rather than allow
wable wind
& weight span
n models. Win
nd & weight span
s models used to be po
opular because they enablled "structura
al analysis"
b
by simply me
easuring a few
w distances on
o a drawing in a time wh
hen computeer 3D design and analysis were not
p
possible. Wind
d & weight spans
s were a very useful concept
c in th
he days when
n people spotted lines ma
anually on
p
paper, but the
ey do not len
nd themselve
es well to mo
odern demand
ds on engineeering. Neverrtheless, it is surprising
h
how many line
e design prog
grams still atte
empt to comp
puterize antiq
quated metho
ods and how many enginee
ers accept
tthis substanda
ard method. At
A PLS we en
ndeavor to ad
dvance the staate of the artt. We do not lock you into
o obsolete
cconstructs fro
om the age off manual draw
wings and sliide rules wheen we know o
of a better wa
ay. Because o
of this our
ccustomers havve been takin
ng advantage
e of the benefits of integraating line dessign and structural analysis for over
tthree decadess.

B
Backgro
ound info
ormatio
on on win
nd & we
eight spans
Measuring wiind & we
eight span
ns
T
The wind & weight
w span method
m ure adequacy by simply measuring two distances
allowss one to determine structu
in a profile vie
ew:

Figu
ure 2 - Overview
w of Wind and Weight Spans
T
The first of th
hese measure
ements, the wind
w span, is simply half the back spaan length plu
us half the ah
head span
le
ength. The id
dea here is that this measu
urement is ind
dicative of th e wind load o ure with the horizontal
on the structu
lo
oad on the sttructure being half the wind load from
m the back spaan and half tthe wind load
d from the ah
head span.
T pan is the distance between
The weight sp n the low poin
nt in the backk span and the low point in
n the ahead sspan (span
ccatenary curve
es may need to be extend
ded beyond ahead
a and baack structuress if low pointt isn't in the sspan). The
id
dea is that th
his distance be
etween low points
p is repre
esentative of the vertical lo
oad seen by tthe structure. For more
information on how PLS-CA
ADD interprets and calcula
ates Ruling Sp pans and Weight Spans please refer
pans, Wind Sp
tto Appendix I of the PLS-CA
ADD User’s Manual.
M

C
Calculating wiind spans is relatively straightforward, but
b when it co weight spans of structuress there are
omes to the w
ssome complexxities which become
b evide
ent as you mo g terrain with inclined span
ove to sloping ns. This is illusstrated by
tthe following graphic (Figure 3).

The weight spans VS at

T a each structure are
indicated. The
e cable shape
e in Span 1-2
2 shows a
ow point. In any of the other spans, the low
lo
p
point is actua o the span. However,
ally outside of
tthe definition of weight sp
pan to estimate vertical
lo
oad still hold ally, i.e., VS = VSL +
ds algebraica
V
VSR, where VSL
V = distance
e from structu
ure to low
p an, positive if low point
point in catenary of left spa
iss to the left of structure
e and VSR = distance
ffrom structure
e to low poin
nt of catenarry in right
sspan, positive
e if low pointt is to the rig
ght of the
sstructure. Figure 3 - W
Weight Spans in Hilly Terrain

FFor example, VS3 is a possitive quantityy (vertical

lo
oad down) because
b VS3 = VSL3 (a negative quan
ntity) + VSR3
3 (a larger po
ositive quantity). VS4 is a negative
q
quantity, indiccating uplift at Structure 4.

T
To add to this, the low po
oint of the curve is not a static
s position
n. It can and does change
e with change
es in wind
p
pressure, temperature, and
d ice loading. In fact, it could even shift d
due to cable llong term cre
eep.

P
PLS-CADD is able to impro
ove on archa
aic wind and weight span checks and llook at the actual wind an
nd weight
sspans taking into
i account the
t blown-ou
ut displaceme nductors and the influence
ent of the con e of the verticcal change
in elevation off structures th
hat historical methods mayy have ignoreed. Please refeer to our com
mpanion Techn
nical Note
o
on the topic of
o Understand
ding the use of
o Weight Spa
ans for furtherr information.

Checking
g structurre wind & weight spans
Iff the structure’s measured
d wind span iss less than a calculated
c allo
owable wind span and its measured we
eight span
iss less than a calculated allowable weig
ght span, then
n the structurre is considerred to have a
adequate stre
ength. The
implication is that structurre strength iss completely defined by ttwo numberss: the allowab
ble wind span
n and the
a
allowable weig
ght span.

T
The problem is
i that these allowable
a valu at they depend on:
ues are not intrinsic properrties of the strructure in tha

 the ru
uling span,
 the wires that are attached,
a and
 the sa
afety or structture code bein
ng used.
Conclusion
While the use of wind and weight spans to evaluate structure capacity still has its place for quick estimates using
structure spotting optimization, modern day software and computers are able to correctly evaluate structures
taking into account the true representation of a line including unbalanced loading and the addition of other
attachments or different cables or conductors using the intrinsic properties of the structure models.

We fully recommend modelling your structures in our structural applications and then using PLS-CADD/Lite to
determine the allowable wind and weight spans when necessary.